


coming home to you

by winterbitch (WinterLadyy)



Series: dream au [6]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dreams and Nightmares, Fluff and Angst, M/M, and there are dreams, and theres mcu canon, one happy where they're married, there are two worlds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-26
Updated: 2019-11-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:40:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21574645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WinterLadyy/pseuds/winterbitch
Summary: Bucky has him. Somehow, his stupid dreams led him straight to a kidnapped Tony Stark, and now he has to deal with getting the man to safety. And maybe figure out what the hell is going on.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Tony Stark, James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark
Series: dream au [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1513778
Comments: 13
Kudos: 167





	coming home to you

James looks down at the man in his arms and is at loss. Stark looks so innocent and fragile pressed against his chest, trustingly sleeping. **  
**

His last words still echo in James’s brain. 

“I trust you.”

How can he? What the hell happened to make the man that James almost killed trust him so much? That soft look of love on his face, those trusting eyes and gentle smile. It doesn’t fit into the image that James had in his head and it’s worrying.

He’s good at reading people and making plans. He knows what to expect of any given situation when he’s in his right mind, so this is unexpected. He feels like he missed something important, but there’s no sign.

Yes, Stark is drugged but what did they have to give him to make him think he trusts the Winter Soldier? All James found were some basic kidnapping drugs, nothing special, nothing to make him lose his mind or hallucinate. It’s very worrying.

However, this isn’t the time or place to think about it. The base is empty, well empty of anyone alive, but it still isn’t safe. They were Hydra and that always makes them dangerous and sets James on edge, so he hurries up. It would be a disaster if someone activated the Winter Soldier again. He did enough damage already. It’s scary to think what he would do with a defenceless Tony Stark in his arms.

James shakes his head, trying to dispel the terrifying thoughts, and enters the jet. The King let him borrow it, for what James is eternally grateful, but they can’t go to Wakanda. Steve and the rest are there, and James doesn’t trust them at all. Something is very wrong there, and a vulnerable Tony Stark isn’t something that should be in their presence.

That’s why he carefully sets Stark on the bed, bundles him in a blanket and sets the course to Greece. It’s on the way to Wakanda, kind of, it’s warm and far from the USA. There are also no Hydra bases that James knows about there, so it has brownie points.

As they fly, James takes some time to try and fit everything together.

It’s one thing to have vivid, heartbreaking dreams about another life, and another to find a kidnapped Tony Stark in a place he dreamed about. When James set off to find the man, he had no hopes, just that desperate need to save him. Now though, with the genius on the jet, relatively safe, he has time to wonder how did it happen.

How could a dream lead him to a man, not even the most developed A.I could find?

How could a dream prepare him for what he was about to face, let him know the exact layout of the base, the number of people, the back entrances and hallways?

How could a stupid dream made by his own tortured mind allow him to save Tony fucking Stark?

James has too many questions and no answers, though that mostly because he keeps trying to push the obvious one away. Yes, he’s aware that aliens are real and that magic exists, but for some reason, an alternate reality doesn’t fit in the same box.

Maybe it’s because it hurts.

It hurts to think about a reality where nothing went wrong, where he’s happy and married and has a son. Where the Avengers are what they’re supposed to be. Where he gets to wake up every day next to the most wonderful man in the world.

It hurts to think about, and it’s woefully unfair, but life is rarely fair, James reminds himself. Soldiers don’t get happy endings, not in this world. Maybe in that one, they do, maybe in that one, there’s another story written out for him, one where he gets to feel a real smile on his face.

It’s not this life.

In this life, there’s blood on his hands, coldness in his bones and sadness on his face. There’s hate in the eyes of the man he should be married to, and there are the remains of the Avengers scattered around the globe.

This reality is cold. Cold like the cryo, like the air in Syberia, like the steely determination in Steve’s eyes and the gleam of Natalia’s knife.

James aches for that golden dream though, aches for it with insane intensity, because he wants so much to have that happy life, but knows he doesn’t deserve it. None of them does, aside from Tony Stark.

All he can do now is make sure the man is safe, and then get him home and leave him there. It’s what’s best for everyone.

Yet, no matter how much he tries, he can’t get rid of the questions that plague his mind. What’s with the dreams? Where did they come from? Are their realities mirroring each other?

James knows that maybe Tony Stark has the answers but it’s not exactly something he can ask the man. Ever.

For now, he has to focus on keeping him safe and sound. And be glad that there’s no Iron Man suit, or he’d have big problems.

Before he knows it, they’re above Europe, passing France and heading south, until Greece is beneath them. James takes the control back and lands the jet close to the secluded safe house he has there, near the woods. The mountains surround the cabin pretty well, so he feels secure enough, landing it. He looks at the sleeping man and sighs. Everything is easier with Stark sleeping, so James uses that time to get him into the cabin.

It’s dusty but otherwise clean, so he bundles Stark in blankets and sets him on the bed, making sure he’s safe. James sets a glass of water on the bedside table and then collapses into the armchair in the small room, staring at the man on the bed.

It’s insane.

Everything he’s doing is insane, and he can’t believe he actually did it. T’Challa knows where he is, the jet has a GPS tracker, but Steve doesn’t and that’s just asking for problems. The punk is downright violent and James really doesn’t want them to get kicked out of Wakanda, so he’ll have to conclude his business here quickly.

Thankfully, Stark’s sleep is deep, so he has the time to make a quick trip to the nearest village and procure some necessities - food, water, some clothes. The rest is in the cabin, so he just returns and sets to make some food. Namely, heat the soup and pasta that come in a can. James can’t afford to be picky.

It’s almost 2 more hours before Stark wakes up, James’s supersoldier hearing picking up the faint shuffle. James steels himself and slides into the room, making sure to stay away from the bed.

“Stark?” he asks quietly, staying in place.

The man turns to face him, but his eyes are hazy still and there’s a smile on his lips. James feels his breathing stop and his heart jump. Stark is absolutely gorgeous and after all those dreams, he longs to see more of those sweet smiles.

“James?” Stark mumbles, reaching out with his hands. He looks needy and messy and a bit scared, but not really.

James just stands there, dazed and so so stupid. He never expected Stark to know or say his name, so now he just doesn’t know what to do. 

“James, c’mere!” Stark whines next, done with waiting. James follows the order instinctively, used to his husband’s whining. Only this isn’t his husband, this is Tony Stark who hates him, who wants to kill him.

Yet, the instinct stays and James sits on the bed carefully, stiffening when Stark leans against him, pressing his warm body against James’s chest. He looks down, frozen solid and Stark only gives him a small smile.

“Hey, baby,” Stark coos, as if nothing’s wrong. James stiffens even more, frantically trying to figure out if he fell asleep at some point.

Because this isn’t Tony Stark, this is Tony Stark-Barnes, with his easy smiles and soft eyes. This is his husband, who isn’t actually real but seems pretty solid now, warm and soft in his arms. 

Bucky takes a deep breath and lets himself smile, the same way he remembers smiling from the dream. “Go to sleep, doll,” he mutters, rough and bit sad, but true.

Stark whines but Bucky tugs him closer and he goes easily, nestling against him. It’s quiet for some time, and then the other man is asleep, defenceless and trusting, tucked against Bucky’s chest. He’s fucked.

For some reason, it doesn’t take long for him to fall asleep, warm and quite comfortable. It doesn’t matter that in this world, in the real world, he ain’t married to Stark. Bucky’s body still remembers how it feels to fall asleep with his husband in his arms, and it’s easy to all back into those memories, fake as they may be.

Or real as they may be.

He’s still not sure. Bucky truly doesn’t know if his dreams are just his mind’s desperate cry for help or some fucked up alien magic. It’s one thing when he’s the only one dreaming, but Stark was…familiar. Stark was home, and he acted that way too. Like Bucky is also his husband, his home.

Like there’s no one he trusts more.

One way or another, Bucky suspects he’s going to have to answer to some weird questions when he wakes up.


End file.
